LONDON (AP) — Ecuador said Thursday it’s ready to set a date for Swedish prosecutors to question Julian Assange inside its London embassy — a potential breakthrough in the years-long international impasse over the WikiLeaks founder.
Assange is wanted for questioning by Swedish police over a rape allegation stemming from his visit to the country in 2010. He has not been charged and denies the rape claim and other allegations made against him by two women. In June 2012, he sought shelter in Ecuador’s embassy in the British capital and has been holed up there ever since.
Ecuador announced last year that it had agreed to a Swedish proposal to interview Assange at the embassy, but no interview has taken place.
Ecuador’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that a date for the questioning in the embassy would be set “in the coming weeks.”
Swedish Prosecution Authority spokeswoman Karin Rosander said Sweden handed over a formal request to interview Assange in January, and a reminder in June, and received Ecuador’s reply on Tuesday.
“It means that a questioning can make the case go forward,” Rosander told The Associated Press. “This is decisive to be able to take a decision whether to formally charge him or not.”
Rosander said the Swedish prosecutor is on vacation and no date has been set for the trip to London.
Assange’s defense team said in a statement that it welcomed the steps to take the WikiLeaks founder’s statement, which it said “comes after six years of complete inaction on the part of the Swedish prosecutor.”
Sweden wants to question Assange about a rape claim, one of several allegations made against him by two women he met in 2010. Last year Swedish prosecutors dropped investigations into claims of sexual molestation and unlawful coercion because their five-year statues of limitations were expiring.
Assange, 45, fears that if he is extradited to Sweden he will be sent to the United States to be prosecuted for WikiLeaks’ publication of secret documents, including reams of U.S. diplomatic cables.
Chelsea Manning, an American soldier who passed secret military and State Department documents to WikiLeaks, is serving a 35-year sentence in a military prison.
Assange faces arrest by British police if he leaves the building and, with the exception of occasional trips to the embassy balcony, has not been outside for years.
In February, a United Nations panel said Assange’s stay at the embassy constituted arbitrary detention and he should be freed. The British and Swedish governments have rejected the non-binding findings of the U.N’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.
In its statement, Ecuador said it stands by its 2012 commitment to grant Assange asylum due to “fears of political persecution.”
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Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, and Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed to this story.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Time to bring this douche to justice.
Tic toc Julian. This is the beginning of showing this asshole the door. You can bet Sweden is going to clear this freak so there’s no longer a justification for Ecuador to shield him. If that rape craps disappears Mr. Assange is going to on the streets of London. Ecuador wants him out. They get no benefit from hiding him and if his next project is jacking with the US elections they damn sure want no part of that. It’s not like the USA and Ecuador are BFF’s right now but they don’t need things to worsen.
The last time I was in Ecuador I met no one that had sympathy for the Gringo. In Britain I talked to a lot of folks and they all hate the guy. If what I’ve seen is representative of broader feelings this MF has probably worn out his welcome.
He must be getting cabin fever in the Ecuadoran embassy, huh? ___ Julian Assange, the ‘Bond villian’ in every Bond movie you wonder if you saw or not, is a disgusting liar, and anyone who believes anything he says is foolish. My suspicion and fear is the “October Surprise”: He will dump a ton of doctored emails concerning Hillary just before the election and the “MEDIA” in all its glorious batshitcrazy freakout to damage Clinton will accept it all without doing due diligence and confirmation of ‘damaging’ information.
My other self thinks he has little or nothing or he would already have released it instead of fishing for “murder plots” concerning the death of Seth Rich, the DNC staffer.
In any case, shitweasel and rape-charged Assange can’t get his comeuppance’ any too soon.
After he jumped bail in the UK. He still will have the bail jumping charge whenever he leaves the embassy.
Serves him right for selling his soul to Putin and Putin’s pals in the Republican Party!